Desperate measures
by Sparklestar01
Summary: It is Harry's sixth year. Voldemort is becomming more and more dangerous. Especailly now that it's common knowledge that either he or Harry must die, and he has no plans on it being him.
1. Return to the Burrow

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to J.K Rowling, and maybe Warner brothers.  
  
A/N: Enjoy, it starts a little slow, but I promise it will pick up, please R&R! THANKS!  
  
Harry looked anxiously out the window, across the road and into the rain. He groaned, any chances of an owl from Ron or Hermione would be greatly minimized.. The rain was good, after the drought they needed it. Still Harry wished it would somehow go away, long enough for an owl to get through. He sighed and turned to the television, watching the ten o:clock news. He still did this, in hope of seeing something, anything, that might hint at what Voldemort was up to. "Stupid Muggles" He grumbled, not really meaning it. He had made friends with some muggles over the summer. Since his Aunt and Uncle mostly ignored him, he could do whatever he pleased, including talking to the neighbors. He sighed and opened the window so Hedwig could get in if she came back, glad for the overhang on the roof of the house that was keeping the rain out. Then he changed into his Pajamas and went to bed.  
  
In the middle of the night he was awakened by Hedwig, she nipped at his face and screeched.  
  
"SHHHH! You'll wake- actually who cares? They're to scared of me to do anything about it" He grinned, speaking half to himself. Hedwig impatiently stretched her foot in front of Harry's face, waiting for him to untie the letter attached to it. He did so and Hedwig fluttered into her cage. Harry opened up the letter and read:  
  
Harry,  
  
Sorry this took so long to get there, I wanted it to arrive in the middle of the night. Get your things and meet us by that park close to your house. We figure we best keep up the tradition of stealing you away from the muggles in the summer.  
  
-Ron  
  
Harry smiled, than stopped. He was happy to be leaving the Dursleys, but seeing so many of the people who had been there last term.... that would be hard. He really had no choice though. In ten minutes he was sitting on a swing at the park, his school things next to him. Suddenly he heard a voice,  
  
"Shhhh! Ginny, you'll wake the muggles!" He searched the sky, and sure enough three figures on broomsticks were coming towards him.  
  
"Ron! Ginny! Fred! Over here!" Harry hissed. The three landed and hurried towards him. "Fred what are you doing here? I thought you were living above your store! Where's George?"  
  
"Hello to you too Harry!" Fred said with a grin."you lot can't use magic, that's what I'm here for, George is at the burrow, we're visiting for a bit. Hermione's there too." With that he turned to Harry's trunk and began putting charms on it.  
  
"Hey Harry, good to see you mate!" Ron exclaimed and clapped him on the shoulder. Harry smiled at him and turned to Ginny who was approaching to give Harry a hug.  
  
"Hi Harry!" She grinned up at him. "How did you guys know that this park is here?" Harry questioned, as he mounted his Firebolt.  
  
"I noticed it four years ago when we came to get you," Fred answered, "Thought it might come in handy-there! I've attached your trunk to your broomstick and put a charm on it so it's lighter, let Hedwig out of her cage, she can fly along side us, lets go." He put a spell on them to keep the rain away. And with that all four of them took off into the sky, Harry's trunk trailing behind them, along with Hedwig's cage.  
  
They had been going for about ten minutes when Harry saw Ginny go whisper something to Fred. He nodded and said something back. Ginny then slowed down and Harry was soon next to her. "Don't look now," she whispered, "but there is someone following us."  
  
"Who?" Harry hissed back  
  
"I don't know, but they're most definitely a death eater." Fred had dropped behind Harry now, as though he thought any spells aimed at Harry would hit him instead. Ron looked confused and yelled,  
  
"OY, WHAT"S TAKING SO LONG?" Harry quickly rode up to Ron and explained their situation. Ron nodded and said,  
  
"Fly full speed to the burrow Harry, once you get close enough the spells mom and dad put around it will keep you safe." By this time Fred and Ginny had caught up to them, they nodded in agreement..Without speaking another word they all sped towards the burrow. Harry arrived first and waited in the front yard as the rest arrived.  
  
"Who do you think that was?" Ginny asked as she arrived, last, in the yard. They turned to see the masked figure going in the other direction, he had obviously run into the charms protecting the Weasley's house.  
  
"I don't know-" Ron started, but he was cut off by George and Hermione who had spotted them.  
  
"HARRY!" Hermione squealed as she ran to hug him.  
  
"Shhhhh! You'll wake mum!" George said sharply.  
  
"I am already awake!" Mrs. Weasley's voice rose above everyone else's. "I suppose I should have known this was coming, to bed everyone, now!  
  
They trooped up to their rooms and all slept very well that night, except Harry. He continuously dreamed of Sirius now, of the way he looked as he died, of the cruel look on Bellatrix's face as she killed her cousin. He woke in the morning covered in cold sweat, Ron was already downstairs, so Harry got ready as quickly as possible. After showering and getting ready for the day Harry joined everyone else downstairs, and ate eggs and toast for breakfast. Ron stayed at the table to talk to Harry,  
  
"Harry, after this do you fancy a game of quidditch? Bill and Charlie are coming home, they can play too." "Sure! Hermione, do you want to play?" Hermione, who had just joined them, nodded her head and returned to the book she was reading.  
  
Later on that day the Weasley kids, Hermione, and Harry gathered in the backyard.  
  
"Percy, you playing?" Bill shouted in Percy's direction. Percy put on an air of being to mature for such trivial things as quidditch and shook his head. "Ok," Bill continued, "that makes eight of us. Harry and Charlie can't be on the same team, neither can Fred and George, I guess we won't play with seekers. Fred, your one beater, George you on the other team as their beater. Ron your Fred's Keeper, and I'll be George's. Ginny and Harry are Fred's Chasers, and Hermione and Charlie are George's.  
  
"Hear that you lot?" George asked "You belong to me!"  
  
"Shut up George!" Charlie yelled and threw the quaffle at him.  
  
"OHHH, that wasn't smart!" George took off after Charlie with his bat as the game began. Harry and Ginny dominated from the start and they won by quite a lot. They were just landing when Hermione, who was still in the air said,  
  
"Oh, looks like you have visitors, I wonder who-" She broke off half way through her sentence saying urgently, "Bill, Charlie, come here!" They flew up to her and turned white. Charlie flew to the house, while Bill came down and whispered,  
  
"everyone, a group of death eaters are approaching the house, stay hidden, they probably won't be able to break through the charms protecting the place, but there are a lot of them." With that he took off towards the house, everyone looked at each other, than without saying a word Ginny ran after Bill a determined look on her face. Harry was impressed by her courage, but at the same time terrified, what if Bellatrix Lestrange was here? She had killed Sirius, Harry wasn't sure how he would react if he saw her. By the time he was through thinking this he had arrived at the burrow, all the kids had decided to stay and fight. Except Percy, who was nowhere to be seen. Mr. And Mrs. Weasley were in the front yard, along with Bill and Charlie. The twins ran out to join them, as they did George turned to look at Harry, Ron Hermione, and Ginny.  
  
"Look, If anything happens, go to our store and hide out there, try not to get involved in this, I know you don't hear that from us often, but we would die if anything happened to any of you." Ginny ran up to them and gave them each a hug. As they were going out the door, Fred slipped something to Ginny, she put it in a pocket and waved as they joined their family outside. Ron took out his wand and ran up the stairs.  
  
"Ron! Where are you going?" Hermione shouted after him. His voice came tearing through the house.  
  
"They're burning it down! We've got to get the important stuff out!" Harry came to the realization that he was right, smoke was coming in. He took off after Ron and went to save some of the twins, Charlie's, and Bill's things, it was fairly easy since they were just visiting. He did the same spells on them that Fred had used earlier in Harry's trunk. That way they followed him. He then ran out the back door where he met Ron, who had Harry's trunk as well as his own, which he had hastily packed. Hermione soon ran out with Mr. And Mrs. Weasley's things, along with several family heirlooms. Last of all came Ginny, with her own truck and the extraordinary Weasley clock. Harry briefly looked at it, noting that none of the hands were pointing to mortal peril, then he did a double take, Charlie's hand was slowly slipping towards it.  
  
"NO" Ron yelled, as he and Ginny sped to the front yard.  
  
"Harry! Give me your invisibility cloak!" Hermione yelled over the noise. Harry didn't ask questions, instead, he took it out as she cried,  
  
"Reducto!" Everything shrank to a size so that the invisibility cloak could cover all of it."Wingardium Leviosa!" She floated everything safely out of reach of the now raging fire and hastily put the cloak over it after making sure Charlie's hand wasn't pointing to "dead." This had only taken a few seconds, and Harry and Hermione raced after the two youngest Weasleys.  
  
Please review! Hugs and kisses to all of you who do! 


	2. Back at Grimauld place

Disclaimer: Do I have to put one of these on every chapter? You know the drill... this belongs to J.K Rowling and Warner Brothers. I'm not making money off of it, this is for entertainment purposes only.  
  
Harry and Hermione peered around a corner to look at the scene in the front yard. Eight death eaters were fighting the Weasleys, two lay on the ground, stunned. Ginny and Ron were taking on one together, shooting stunning spells that were either blocked or dodged. Mr and Mrs. Weasley were dealing with a death eater each, both seemed to be winning. Bill was standing over Charlie, fighting fiercly, taking on two death eaters at once. Fred and George were not only fighting with wands, but also throwing little bombs that seemed to make anyone they hit turn into a chicken. One remaining death eater was unchallenged, Harry and Hermione looked at each other and nodded, then took off after the death eater, who was sneaking up behind Bill.  
  
"EXPELLIARMUS!" Harry yelled, hitting the death eater square in the back.  
  
"STUPIFY!" Hermione cried, a second later, also hitting the target. The twins had successfully turned their death eaters into chickens before stunning them. Fred was now helping Bill, standing on the other side of Charlie. George helped Mr. Weasley. Soon enough they had seven stunned death eaters, and two stunned chickens which were slowly turning human again, but remaining stunned. Everyone circled around the last death eater, who laughed menacingly, before saying in a feminine voice,  
  
"The Dark Lord will prevail! You have not won, Everywhere Harry goes, we will be, and quite soon, he won't be going anywhere, dead people can't walk!" With that she screeched in laughter and dissaparated. Harry stood there, fists clenched, face white as chalk. He would recognize that cruel voice anywhere. It was the voice that haunted his dreams, Bellatrix Lestrange's. Harry stood there, furious, but wanting to cry at the same time. He realized now, anywhere he went was unsafe. People would be in danger because they were in the same room as him. He looked around to see everyone else gathered around Charlie. Harry joined them, standing behind Ginny. He looked down at Charlie and was terrified. His face was grey, smeared with blood. His eyes were rolling, not focused. He looked like he had been stabbed, but Harry recognized it as the same spell that had hit Hermione last year in the Dept. Of mysteries. Mrs. Weasley was sobbing over him.  
  
"I tried to stop them," She was gasping. "I really tried, but they put the Cruciatus curse on him, and then ... " She broke off into a new set of sobs. To Harry's surprise, George took charge.  
  
"Dad, apperate as close to Hogwarts as you can, and get Dumbledore. He will know what to do for Charlie. Mum, you stay here with Charlie, and Fred, you stay too. I'll apperate to Order of the Phoenix headquarters, and tell them what happened. Bill, you take Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to the Diggory's. Use the Floo network to get to The Order headquarters." Everyone was looking at George, astonished, but they did what he had ordered. As they walked away, Bill turned back for one last look at the ruins of The Burrow. He shook his head sadly and kept walking. Hermione however, suddenly doubled over in pain, clutching her chest.  
  
"Hermione!" Ron gasped, "What-?"But he was cut off be Hermione.  
  
"Oh, its nothing," She said, laboring to stand straight. "Just that wound from the Department of Mysteries. You see I still am taking potions for it. I should have had one in the past hour. Really though, it's no big deal." Her face however, was telling a different story. It was red and sweaty. Her eyes looked a little bit glazed, and she was gasping for air. Ron looked worried,  
  
"Is the potion in your trunk?" He questioned.  
  
"Yes, but there's no time to get that now. I'll be ok, really." Bill looked grim.  
  
"Im afraid we don't have a choice, anything in the burrow will be burnt to a crisp." The four teens looked at each other uneasily.  
  
"Well," Ginny began. "We managed to save some things, maybe we should get them. There isn't danger any more." they agreed that this would be a good thing to do and raced back to he house.  
  
It took them a while to find everything, since it was under the invisibility cloak. Eventually Hermione had the idea to use a summoning charm on it. Harry put the cloak in his trunk while Hermione drank her potion. She looked much better, so they set off for the Diggory's house once again. This time though they stopped as they neared the front yard. Dumbledore had arrived, with several ministry officials, and Snape, who was setting up a collapsible cauldron to Charlie's right.  
  
"Dumbledore!" Ron yelled. "Will he be alright?"  
  
"Ah Hello," Dumbledore smiled down on them. He looked as ancient as ever, and quite tired, but the twinkle was still in his eyes as he continued. "Your brother will be ok. He will have to take potions hourly for quite some time. He needs a lot of rest, but he will be O.K. We have Ministry officials here to take care of the death eaters. Of course with the ministry in its currant state, I will be going with them to be sure they aren't forgotten in all the chaos. Now, I believe you are on your way to the Diggory's?" With that he went to talk to Snape, and the five set off down the hill towards the Diggory house. By the time they arrived the sun had set completely, and Mrs. Diggory answered the door looking worried.  
  
"We saw the flames, my husband went to see if he could help, I think he's there now." Harry couldn't help but notice the nervous glance she was throwing in his direction. As though his very presence was a danger. Harry got angry but then mellow as he reminded himself that she was right."Come, the fireplace is right this way." She led them to a cozy room, which seemed entirely devoted to the huge marble fireplace in the center of the back wall. A large goblet held floo powder and she held it out, offering it to Bill first. He picked up some of his things, as well as his brothers, took some floo powder and threw it in the fireplace, then stepped into the dazzling green flames.  
  
"Number 12 Grimmauld place." He said sharply and disappeared in a roar of green flames. Mrs. Diggory, who wasn't in the order, didn't ask questions as to what was going on. Harry got the feeling that the order was well known, but its location wasn't. Obviously the Weasleys and Dumbledore trusted her to know though, so Harry said nothing. He went after Ron, a bit nervous when hew remembered what had happened last time he used floo powder. He closed his eyes and repeated what Bill had said, quite clearly. Before he knew it, he had arrived at number 12, and was pleased to see the welcoming face of Remus Lupin.  
  
"Harry! Ron! Hermione! Ginny! Its wonderful to see you! You can stay in the same rooms as last year, I expect you will be wanting some sleep after this." Harry followed Ron into their room. He tried to avoid thinking things like "this is Sirius's house" and "I wonder where Kreacher is?" He knew he would react violently to either of those thoughts.  
  
A few hours later he heard the door squeak open. He peered through the darkness and made out the shape of Lupin, he seemed to be delivering their trunks, which they had left downstairs. He spotted Harry watching him, and motioned for Harry to come talk to him out in the hall. Harry slipped on his bathrobe and followed Lupin.  
  
"Harry, how are you doing?" Harry looked up at Lupin's face to see that it was full of concern. For a moment Harry was angry, thinking things like "How can he ask that? If he was half as good friends with Sirius as I was-" Than he stopped, realizing that Lupin was probably better friends with Sirius than he had been.  
  
"I've been alright, you know" He finally responded.  
  
"I was just going downstairs to share a cup of tea with someone, would you like to come? I could introduce you." Harry nodded, deciding he wouldn't be sleeping anyway. Harry looked up at Lupin and then asked something that had been bugging him.  
  
"Aren't you sad? Sirius was like your brother, you seem so calm, and now your staying in his house too? He looked up at Remus and almost regretted asking, but when he answered, it was calmly.  
  
"Yes harry, it is hard, but Sirius left quite a bit to me, everything except this house, I am just here until I get that sorted out, than I will be leaving on business for the Order."  
  
"So who did he leave the house to?" Lupin paused in the middle of the stairs before looking at Harry,  
  
"You." Harry rose his eyebrows in disbelief then pointed to himself,  
  
"Me?"  
  
"Yes"  
  
"But, but why? The order won't be safe! Voldemort will look through me and see where the headquarters are... The death eater...Bellatrix-" Lupin had suddenly stopped again,  
  
"- Bellatrix was at the Weasleys?" Harry nodded and continued,  
  
"She said they would follow me everywhere" Harry was now extremely worked up, "There will be death eaters here, it's not fair! No one around me is safe anymore. I can't take any more friends dying because of me!"  
  
"Harry calm down! We thought you might act this way. Don't worry, it's taken care of."  
  
"Why is Voldemort doing this!?" Harry was in a rage, although he was still whispering, he already knew the answer to that, but he wanted to hear it from someone else. Lupin looked like he was contemplating what his response to that would be, he turned looked Harry straight in the eye, and said,  
  
"He wants to scare you harry, it's simple, He wants to live, and for that to happen, you must die. He's willing to do whatever he must for that to happen."  
  
More soon! Please review, gracias! 


	3. Memories

Harry just gaped up at Lupin, He hadn't been expecting such a direct answer. "But it's true." Said that nasty little voice in Harry's head. There was no time to continue the conversation however, because they had reached the kitchen doors. When Lupin opened it, Harry saw a young woman Putting two cups of tea on the table. The woman had short wavy blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, but some pieces that weren't long enough to fit framed her face. She wore muggle jeans and a white tank top. She smiled when she saw Harry and added a third. Just than there was a loud pop, and Tonks was in the kitchen. She looked nervous for a second, and had her wand out but relaxed Immediately at the sight of Harry.  
  
"Wotcher, Harry!" She said happily, as she suddenly replaced the straight black hair that she had for neon blue spikes. She continued "I see you have met my sister." The woman who had been in the room interrupted with a small laugh.  
  
"Actually, he just came in when you crashed our little party." She then turned to Harry and shook his hand. "I'm Alexandria Tonks Harry, this troublemakers big sister. Don't be frightened though, I'm not as scary as little Nymphadora here." She shot a mischievous glance at Tonks who had taken out her wand to hex her sister. Lupin cautiously pushed her hand back down as Tonks stared fuming.  
  
"You know I hate it when you call me that." She said crossly, than turned to Harry. "I mean Nymphadora, really? Apparently mum ran out of good names after Alexandria, although I'm not jealous of my youngest sister, she's called Doriellia, seems mum was fond of names that ended in the letter A. Well, I'm off to bed, just dropped in to say good night to Lexi, but now I don't think I'll bother." With that she was gone. Harry was astonished in the difference between the two sisters. Tonks was tomboyish and clumsy. Alexandria was completely the opposite. She moved with grace and charm, and was very girly. "Not the bad kind of girly though", Harry thought to himself, "more sporty." Harry looked up to see that Alexandria seemed to have shrunk a few inches.  
  
"Are you a metamorphmagus too?" Alexandria laughed lightly,  
  
"Yes, it runs in my family, Dads side, I always try to be a bit taller than Nympha- Tonks, I mean. In reality I think she has passed me, but she doesn't need to know that." She winked at Harry, "I trust you won't tell my secret."  
  
"Nope," He grinned, "Secrets are safe with me!"  
  
"Good, listen, Harry there's something we need to discuss with you, the actual reason Lexi is here." Harry raised his eyebrows, wondering what Lupin was talking about. Lupin didn't leave him in suspense for long before continuing. "Remember how I told you Sirius left this house to you?" Harry felt that sinking feeling come back.  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"Well, we expected you to be..." Lupin paused to choose his words carefully, "a bit reluctant. So we thought of a plan, of another way for this house to stay in the order, if you turn down the offer." He was interrupted by Alexandria.  
  
"That's where I come in Harry, see, If you turn it down, the house would go to any of Sirius's immediate family, but they're all dead. So it would go to Bellatrix, but seeing as that she's wanted for being a death eater, she can't really accept. So his next oldest cousin would be my mother, but she has passed away, so she can hardly accept it." Harry glanced at Lupin and was shocked to see that his face was white as salt and he seemed in a trance, a look of fury on his face. Alexandria was saying somthing to the effect of "never let the Malfoys have it.-" But was cut off by Harry running to Lupin and shaking him. For a moment it looked as though he would strangle harry but then he forced a smile.  
  
"Sorry, please continue" He said smoothly. Harry was worried,  
  
"What happened, what was wrong, are you-" But Remus cut him off quickly, and turned to Alexandria.  
  
"I don't understand how you and Tonks are so happy, you speak of your mother and Doriellia so lightly, how do you do it? How can you accept it?" Harry was extremely confused, somthing Alexandria seemed to have noticed.  
  
"You see Harry, Bellatrix killed my mum. Now my mum was always her favorite sister, so when she joined the dark side, which was when she was still a child mind you, Bellatrix tried to convince my mum to join her. My mum refused, but promised not to tell Bellatrix's secret to anyone. As they grew older though my mum had second thoughts. One day Doriellia was missing, and mum found her at our doorstep, almost insane, just laying there. Through all the rambling we finally figured out that Bellatrix had tried to use the Imperius curse on her, I'm not sure why, but her mind was to weak for it. It didn't work, but instead made her crazy. She is still like that today. My mum decided that this was the last straw, she was going to tell the ministry, but Bellatrix killed her before she could. She killed my dad too, but we reckon that was an accident."  
  
"Wow." Harry was amazed. "Er.... You seem to have gotten over it, I mean, that's not what I meant...How did-...?" He stopped mid sentence aware that she was beginning to talk again.  
  
"Tonks deals with it by becoming an auror, it's her way of fighting back. Me, I just accept that they are in a better place, and that what goes around comes around, Bellatrix will be punished." When she said that last part her face had gone stone cold, and she had pushed her fist into her opposite palm. She had looked extremely dangerous, and Harry suddenly realized that she was very powerful. Just seeing her look like that was enough. She smiled then, and Harry wondered if he had just imagined it, but he was sure it had been real. "The point is, I will be taking the house if you don't want it. It can then stay in the Order and all's well. Plus I get to join the order!" Harry had quite a bit to think about so he just nodded and said,  
  
"Thanks, I'll take you up on that, the house is yours. I'm going to go to bed now, 'Night Lupin, Alexandria."  
  
"Oh, call me Lexi, it's much easier."  
  
"And me Remus, I'm not your professor anymore Harry."  
  
Harry nodded and went off to bed. He slept soundly that night, but Lexi's face when it was cold and dark haunted his dreams. He had never seen anyone with a look of that much determination before, and wasn't sure he ever wanted to again. 


	4. The secrets of Fred and George

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, JK Rowling does. I own the plot though! *Does happy dance*  
  
A/N: Sorry I haven't updated sooner, I have been working on my other fic a bit. Ok, from now on, when I refer to "the Weasleys" I mean all of them except Percy, who is a horrible git, who doesn't deserve the last name Weasley. Glad that is cleared up.  
  
Harry woke up the next morning to the last thing he wanted to hear, the ramblings of an insane house elf. Harry felt his temperature rise; he grabbed his glasses off the bedside table, along with his wand, which he found pointed straight at Kreachers heart. Although Harry wasn't sure if Kreacher even had a heart.  
  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? HOW DARE YOU STAND HERE AND BRING YOUR FILTH INTO OUR PRESENCE? AFTER WHAT YOU DID TO SIRIUS! GET OUT! GET OUT AND NEVER LET ME SEE YOU AGAIN!" Kreacher only gave a small smile that resembled a smirk and lazily said,  
  
"Harry Potter is not my master, Harry Potter can't tell me to leave." This made Harry more furious.  
  
"DAMN RIGHT I'M NOT YOUR MASTER, IF I WAS, YOU WOULD BE DEAD! AND THEN I WOULD BURN YOU! YOU KILLED YOUR MASTER! GET THAT SMILE OFF YOUR FACE! YOU PRAT!"  
  
"Master deserved what he got." Harry then lowered his voice, so that it sounded even more dangerous than the yelling, and hissed at him,  
  
"You take that back, you take it back, or I will kill you." Harry looked inside himself, and knew that he meant it. Kreacher just stood there. Harry raised his wand, still not sure what he was doing, when he felt a pull on his raised arm. He turned to see Lexi, glaring at Kreacher.  
  
"Leave him Harry; I inherited him along with the house." Harry was furious, and turned to tell her that he didn't care, but stopped before he began when he saw the crowd of people he had attracted with his yelling. All the Weasleys (except Charlie), Lupin, Mundungas, and Snape were peering at him. Lupin was the first one to speak,  
  
"Leave him Harry, letting him live is much more miserable for him. Trust me; I would have killed him by now otherwise." Harry respected Lupin more than just about anyone, so he actually considered this, and then lowered his wand. Kreacher looked smug, and went back to "dusting" the room. He began mumbling again.  
  
"Look at all the blood traitors, back again. If only they knew what their brother was doing, then they wouldn't-" He was cut off by Mr. Weasley  
  
"What did you say about "their brother" Kreacher?" Kreacher looked startled, as though he thought Mr. Weasley could read his thoughts. He ignored him though, and began dusting Ron's trunk.  
  
"Get your hands off of that!" Ron yelled. Lexi sighed and said,  
  
"Kreacher, leave this room please." He bowed briefly to her.  
  
"Please? You say please to that. that. that thing?" Ron spat out. Lexi just shook her head and walked out of the room. Lupin followed her, shortly followed by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Mundungas looked around curiously, but then followed suit, leaving the Weasley children behind with Harry. Fred looked curious,  
  
"What do you suppose he meant about "our brother," does he mean Charlie?" Ginny shook her head before responding,  
  
"No, Charlie's alright, I was up last night giving him his potions every hour, mum deserved a break." Everyone else looked a little embarrassed that they hadn't helped, but Bill kept up the conversation anyway.  
  
"He didn't mean Charlie, I reckon he was talking about Percy. Has anyone seen him since the fire?" Everyone shook their heads, so Bill continued. "What do you think he's up to?" The other five considered this, and finally Ginny said what they were all thinking.  
  
"You don't suppose, he joined You-know-who?" George shook his head,  
  
"Ever since his apology for 'the misunderstanding,' me and Fred have been watching him, it looks pretty suspicious. He disappears for a week or so, and every time after he comes back, another death eater attack is announced." Fred nodded and added in,  
  
"We didn't want to mention anything, but now that it has come up, we will. George and I put a tracking spell on Percy; we just look at these maps,"  
  
"Which our good friends the Maurderers inspired us to make,"  
  
As George said this, Fred took some parchment out of his pocket, each a map of different places.  
  
"See, this is what gets to us, he just disappears all the time, whenever he gets close to Hogwarts." George cut in,  
  
"Then a few hours later he will reappear from the exact place he had vanished."  
  
All eyes were on the map of Hogsmeade now, as a stick figure wearing a wizard hat, labeled, 'The git,' walked past the shrieking shack. He then vanished off of that map, and now was on the one of Hogwarts. He took about three steps on that one, before the little figure was gone.  
  
"We can't explain it." Fred looked around, hoping for an explanation. He found one, Bill spoke up.  
  
"If that means what I think, we could be in real trouble. The only reason the map would act like this, is if the Fidelious charm was on that place. We can only hope that it isn't V-Voldemort who is there." Everyone except Harry shivered at the name.  
  
"Aw, come on Bill, since when do you say it?" Ron questioned. "First Harry, then Hermione, now you?" Everyone chose to ignore this comment, since they were thinking about what Bill had just said. Harry glanced back at the map, and was surprised to see Percy, or, 'the git,' come back out.  
  
"Look." He pointed to it. Suddenly George started tapping the maps, and Fred did the same. As they tapped each one, more little stick figures appeared. Some had little skirts, Harry thought those were meant to be girls, and all had little wizard hats on. Harry looked at one and was surprised to see the heading "Privit Drive." He supposed that he should have known they would be keeping track on him. George saw his eyes linger on it, and tapped the little house labeled "number four." It instantly took up the whole map, so the whole parchment was now a very detailed Dursley house. A figure with a skirt labeled "Petunia Dursley" was in the kitchen, while two stick figures, representing his cousin and uncle, were watching TV. Harry noticed that they didn't have wizard hats, and decided that was because they were muggles.  
  
Everyone else however, was watching the map of Hogwarts, where Percy had just been. More people were appearing on the map. Harry watched and saw Lucious Malfoy who was next to Draco Malfoy. Behind them were Crabbe Sr. and Goyle Sr. They kept coming, in groups of two, all of them death eaters. Finally Bellatrix Lestrange came out, apparently by herself.  
  
"Why is she the only one by herself?" Ron asked, looking at Fred, who responded.  
  
"She probably isn't, the only ones who appear on here are the ones we were able to put tracking spells on. You don't honestly think that no one else is in Hogsmeade besides Percy?" Harry realized two things at once. The first was that Azkaban had been broken out of again, the second was Fred and George had apparently put tracking spells on some of the most powerful death eaters in Voldemort's army. Ginny had come to the realization about Azkaban, and commented on it, but Harry wasn't listening.  
  
"How did you get a tracking spell on those death eaters?" Everyone stared at him, than turned to Fred and George or an explanation. They suddenly seemed very nervous, and George found something terribly interesting on his shoes to stare at. Fred took a deep breath and began to explain.  
  
"Well, we knew these could come in handy, and we always have had a bit of disrespect for rules and all, not that you have noticed that, anyway, when Percy came home from wherever he had been one night, Georgie and I had a little talk with him. After he practically cursed us into obliviation, we put the imperius curse on him." Ginny gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth, while the rest looked around uneasily. George seemed to have become bored with whatever was on his shoes, so he picked up for Fred.  
  
"It wasn't what we had planned, mind you, but we had slipped some truth potion into his tea earlier. When we approached him, he told us that he was planning on putting the imperius curse on dad, and spying on the ministry through him. We put the full body bind on him and had a little meeting. It was the only thing that would prevent him from doing that." George looked like he was done, so Fred finished up for him,  
  
"So, the next time he attended a death eater meeting, we had him slip a few tracking charms on the death eaters while their backs were turned. He used one of our wands of course, so it would track back to us. It's very handy that George and I have identical wands for things like these." Everyone looked shocked; Ron was the first who spoke.  
  
"So all along, you knew? You never told us?" Fred and George looked uneasy,  
  
"We weren't sure, and we didn't want to trouble anyone over it. The part that we used an unforgivable curse on our own brother was also a reason for not telling." Harry remembered his attempt at the Crucio curse a few weeks ago. He suddenly found he had a great respect for the Weasley pranksters. Unforgivable curses required a huge amount of power. No one else in the room looked surprised though, apparently he was the only one who had underestimated the twins.  
  
"So what now?" Ginny asked, so quietly that if he room hadn't been deathly silent, no one would have heard her.  
  
"We have to tell mum and dad," Bill answered. Fred and George nodded.  
  
"We'll do it, it should be us." Harry was extremely glad that he wasn't going to be there when the bad news was broken. Fred and George walked out, each with an identical grim expression. Bill nodded to his younger sister and brother before leaving. Harry Ron and Ginny looked at each other uneasily, but luckily were saved from discussion by the familiar call of Mrs. Weasley, saying breakfast was ready.  
  
Breakfast was quiet, and Lupin officially introduced Lexi to everyone. Telling nothing more than that she was Tonks's sister, and would be joining the order, seeing as that the house now belonged to her. She went and sat next to Bill, and they started talking right away. Harry was lost in thought about Percy, he was so mad, it seemed to be quite a trend to become a traitor recently. He suddenly felt an elbow in the ribs, and turned to see Ron pointing towards where Lexi and Bill were sitting.  
  
"I don't like her." Harry was confused, "Lexi? Why?"  
  
"She seems like a bloody prat! The way she stood up for Kreacher, I'll bet she's on you know, his side!" Harry almost laughed at Ron's stupidity, but then remembered the story she had told about her mother and sister. He realized that he should probably set Ron straight before he said something stupid to her, so he quickly filled him in on Lexi's past. Ron's ears were red with embarrassment at the conclusion he had jumped to, especially after Harry told him about that look she had possessed last night.  
  
"Er, I suppose I was wrong. Look at them though; I wonder whatever happened with Bill and Fleur." Apparently, the twins had been listening to their conversation, because Fred answered his question.  
  
"Didn't you know? Bill finally figured out that she was an annoying whiney little Veella and dumped her. I suppose he finally figured out that she only had about half a brain and we aren't sure that even works, especially after we tested our chicken bombs on her."  
  
"No, that was Collin Creevey that we tested them on, we tested the toad one on her."  
  
"Oh yeah, she made an ugly toad. Anyway, we like Lexi much better. Did you know that she has lived in America? Quite famous over there, she's a very strong witch. No where near Dumbledore, of course, but I reckon she could take out McGonagall without much of a sweat." The twins both stood up and suddenly looked quite gloomy, it was apparent that they were following their parents out of the room, and were going to break the bad news about Percy.  
  
A/N: He he, sorry Fleur drives me crazy. Since Fred and George are my favorites, I couldn't resist them bashing her around a bit. Thank you to all of my reviewers, I have read at least one of all of your stories and reviewed them. It's just a way for me to express my thanks. More to come fairly soon, I might work on my other fic a bit. Check it out; it's a Harry/Ginny fic. I might work on that a little bit first, but I should have another update in a few days for this one. 


	5. OWLS

The next morning Harry work up, feeling exhausted. He had gotten the worst nights sleep he had had in a while. Mrs. Weasley had kept everyone up all night wailing for her lost son. No one had thought to send the teens to bed until early in the morning, and they hadn't been able to sleep anyway.  
  
"Are you up Harry?" He jumped at Ron's voice, and then turned to look across the room at Ron, who had apparently just woken up too.  
  
"Yeah." No more words were spoken between them, and five minutes later, the awkward silence was broken by the noise of tapping on the window. A large barn owl was carrying a heavy envelope, and looking very impatient about being kept outside. Ron muttered about stupid owls not respecting sleeping hours, but went to get the envelope.  
  
"It's from Hogwarts. I bet our O.W.L. scores are in here." Harry groaned at the prospect of seeing his score but caught the envelope as Ron threw it to him.  
  
"You open it." Harry did as Ron commanded, and found four smaller envelopes inside the large one, One for Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione. Harry tossed the one labeled Ron Weasley at its owner, then set to work opening his own. He pulled out four pieces of parchment. The first said,  
  
Dear Hogwarts student,  
  
Due to the knowledge that Lord Voldemort has returned, we are giving all Hogwarts students the choice of staying home this year, as some people feel certain risks are involved with staying at Hogwarts. We can assure you that the school is possibly the safest place in the world to be right now, but the decision is yours. Please think this through before responding, and send an owl back with your decision.  
  
Minerva McGonagall Deputy headmistress  
  
"Ron? Did you get one of these too?" He held up the letter to show Ron, who put down his new prefect badge before nodding his head and reading it. When he was done he looked slightly curious.  
  
"How many do you think will stay home? Maybe Malfoy will, we can always hope!" Harry didn't say anything at first, when he did he was serious.  
  
"This could be really bad Ron, Muggles won't understand, some of them might make their kids stay home because their scared or something. Then they won't stand a chance." Ron looked up and said,  
  
"Well, we'll just have to see what happens." Harry nodded and looked at the next piece of parchment.  
  
Results of the O.W.L.  
  
Transfiguration: O  
  
History of magic: A  
  
Potions: A  
  
Divination: P  
  
Charms: E  
  
Defense Against the Dark Arts: O  
  
Herbology: E  
  
Astronomy: P  
  
Care of magical creatures: E  
  
"Well," thought Harry, there go my chances of being an auror. It was a little bit comforting to know he wouldn't be taking potions though. Still, he wanted a way to get revenge for Sirius, and becoming an auror seemed the best way to go about doing that. Ron's voice broke into his thoughts,  
  
"What did you get?" Harry traded scores with Ron, and was pleased to see his friend had also done fairly well, although he had gotten a P in history of magic, and an A in astronomy. Harry handed the parchment back to Ron, and turned his attention to the other two letters. The first was his supply list, which he didn't pay to much attention to. The second, he was surprised to see, was a note hand written by Professor McGonagall.  
  
Mr. Potter,  
  
I have no doubt you have already seen your OWL scores. I know you intended to become an auror, and you still will. I made a promise to Delores Umbridge and I intend to keep it. I will do everything in my power to make you an auror. Professor Snape refuses to teach you, but if you would like, I can tutor you in potions, then at the end of your seventh year, I will arrange for you to take the NEWTS. Please respond as soon as you can.  
  
Professor McGonagall  
  
"RON! Ron, look at this!" He jumped up and shoved the note into Ron's hand. He read it, and looked up at Harry with a wistful look.  
  
"Wow, your really lucky Harry! Do you think. when you owl her back, could you ask if she would teach me as well?" Harry was now double as excited as he had been before,  
  
"Yeah! This is great, we're going to be aurors, and Snape isn't going to teach us!" He quickly scribbled out a note to McGonagall on the back of her letter, saying he would like to get tutored in potions, and asking if Ron could be too. After attaching it to Hedwig, and sending her outside, he had a shower and got dressed. Then he waited for Ron to do the same before scooping up Hermione and Ginny's letters.  
  
"Well, I suppose we should give these to the girls, and bring your OWL scores; you know everyone will want to see them." Ron grabbed them, along with his prefect badge, and they went downstairs.  
  
By the time they got to the kitchen Ginny and Hermione were already there, talking with Lexi and Tonks.  
  
"'Morning Harry, Ron!" said Tonks when she spotted them at the doorway. "Would you like some toast?" She reached for it, and knocked over her glass full of water. "Oh, Sorry Ron." She added to a very wet Ron, who had just been trying to sit on the chair next to her. "Obliqua" she said with a yawn, and dried up all the water.  
  
"Here." Harry gave Hermione and Ginny their envelopes, "got these this morning."  
  
"OH!" Hermione squealed, "OWL scores!" She looked very tense as she opened it, and then went a bit red after looking at her scores.  
  
"Well?" asked Ron, "What did you get?"  
  
"Er," She looked very embarrassed, "All O's" Lexi smiled down at her,  
  
"Wow, Hermione, that's really good!" Hermione flushed a bit more, and asked for their scores, which they showed her.  
  
"Oh, that's too bad about potions; didn't you both want to be aurors?"  
  
"Er, yes, but Professor McGonagall is going to tutor us." Harry explained.  
  
"Well, she's tutoring Harry anyway, hopefully me too." Ron corrected. Hermione looked worried,  
  
"Should she be doing that? I mean, she must be breaking some rules or-"  
  
"I assure you, it is ok." Came a new voice, they all turned too see Professor Dumbledore standing in the doorway.  
  
"Professor!" Tonks said, surprised, "What are you doing here?"  
  
"It's Albus, Tonks, unless you would like me to call you Nymphadora." His eyes twinkled as he spoke. "Actually I am here to talk to Alexandria, may I have a word?" She nodded and they stepped outside. Harry vaguely wondered what it was about, but then dismissed it as being order business. Instead he listened to the conversation Ron, Hermione and Ginny were having,  
  
"So all three of us are prefects, that's wonderful Ginny!" Harry saw that a prefect badge had fallen out of Ginny's envelope. Ginny, however looked slightly confused, and Harry was too, after all she was following in the footsteps of Fred and George.  
  
"Oh well," she said, as though reading Harry's thoughts, "What I'm more worried about is this." She held up the letter explaining that students could stay home. "I wonder why they sent this."  
  
"Let me see that!" Tonks grabbed the letter, and read it, apparently very unhappy by the look on her face.  
  
"ALBUS! What in the world are you thinking?" She yelled toward the hall where he and Lexi were. Dumbledore stepped into the room, looking almost amused. "Why are you giving them the option of staying away? You should command them to stay!" She was very worked up now, and stormed out of the room.  
  
"She is right you know." Hermione spoke up, "For everyone's own safety, we should all be at Hogwarts." Dumbledore smiled,  
  
"I appreciate your confidence Ms. Granger." And with that he left.  
  
"What did he want Lexi?" Ginny asked, apparently distracted from the letter.  
  
"Well," Lexi looked around; as if unsure she should say something. "The Defense against the Dark Arts teacher Dumbledore hired was to scared to stay, she thought the position was cursed. Some witch named Fleur something or other." All four of them almost burst out laughing at this, Lexi continued, "So, he wanted to know if there would be a possibility that I would teach, and I said yes. Now if you will excuse me, I have to make a selection of which book I would like my students to get, Professor McGonagall needs the information right away.  
  
Once she was gone, the four left in the kitchen grinned at each other, this would be an interesting year. 


End file.
